Dallas Cowboys, thanks for stopping by

I’m a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys. So I surprised myself by not gorging on all of the goodness wrapped around America’s Team’s 21-day stay at the Alamodome for Training Camp ’09. The ‘Boys held their last practice this morning.

I managed to attend one practice last weekend. . . solo. I just wanted to see the team in person. First time, for me. My reaction was a combination of moderate boredom and fanboy giddiness. There wasn’t much to look at. There was no opponent. Nothing’s really at stake. But the Dallas Cowboys are in your house, your town.

So when I walked into the dome, I went straight to the concessions. I bought a large Dr. Pepper and a $4 “jumbo” hot dog. I think the adjective “jumbo” is supposed to some how justify paying $4 for a hot dog that won’t get any better than packets of mustard and relish. But then when you’re handed the dog, it just a regular-sized dog and ho hum-ish — pale wiener inside a soggy bun. For the Alamodome, the whole thing is complaint-proof because everybody’s infected with the fanboy giddiness. If anything, fans want the overpriced food ASAP so that they can return to watching the ‘Boys. The food was overpriced, but I didn’t mind.

At the practice itself, you understand why NFL teams need so many coaches. The linebacker coach conducts pass rush drills with DeMarcus Ware and the gang at one end of the field. The secondary is going through “hands” drills with assistant coach Dave Campo in the middle of the field. And there’s some highly-intricate walk-through type thing going on with the entire offense at the other end zone.

In the celebrity sightings category, I bumped into Tony Romo (not literally, but almost) at Rosario’s Mexican Restaurant on Monday. I admit: I was a little awestruck. I don’t know why. Dude has yet to win a playoff game.

Just as a colleague and I were walking into the restaurant, four fairly tall dudes were leaving, lead by Romo. “Oh, there’s Tony,” I said. And that was kind of about it. They exited fast. Apparently, Romo likes Rosario’s — he’s been there more than once. I couldn’t make out the other three, but one waiter said to the folks sitting next to us:

“One of them was Jason. . . White?”

“Witten?”

“Yeah, that’s it!”

I found myself hanging out with the Dallas media a lot. A certain group of reporters, columnists and bloggers at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News and various sports talk radio shows overwhelmingly gave several thumbs up to Tito’s Restaurant on South Alamo Street. Can’t blame them. Tito’s is one of my favorites. For drinks, they seemed to prefer sports bar The Ticket on East Houston and Losoya streets.

I asked one Dallas Morning News blogger: Who gets more fan turnout? San Antonio or Oxnard, Calif. (home to previous Cowboy’s camps)? He said overwhelmingly San Antonio. And while the Big Metal Barn isn’t as occupied these days as most people would like, I think fans flocking to the dome in the thousands certainly is a good thing.

So while I only dabbled a little in Training Camp ’09, I’m glad the ‘Boys decided to return to San Antonio, particularly downtown and the Alamodome.